Rocket launch reignites space station deliveries in Virginia

Associated Press

Published 3:10 pm, Tuesday, October 18, 2016

CAPE CANAVERAL — One of NASA’s main delivery companies made a triumphant comeback seen up and down the East Coast on Monday night, launching its first space station shipment from Virginia since a rocket explosion two years ago.

It was the first flight of Orbital ATK’s unmanned Antares rocket since the Oct. 28, 2014, blast that wrecked the pad and destroyed everything on the space station supply run.

The launch provided a show for sky gazers along much of the East Coast. Reports poured in via Twitter from observers in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Raleigh, N.C.

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For Antares’ long-awaited return, the pad underwent a $15 million restoration, and the rocket got new Russian engines to replace the vintage ones from a half-century earlier.

As the Antares streaked through the night sky from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, it appeared as though all the work had paid off. Launch controllers applauded when the supply ship reached orbit and victory was declared.

“It is great to be back,” said Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK’s space systems group.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden described the launch as “magnificent” and personally thanked the Orbital ATK team.

Getting a lift from the Antares was Orbital ATK’s Cygnus capsule, loaded with more than 5,000 pounds of food, equipment and research, including some experiments to study flames in space and the robotic toy ball Sphero, part of an educational effort.

NASA’s other commercial shipper, SpaceX, has made nine station deliveries since 2012, but is currently grounded, pending an investigation into last month’s rocket explosion during prelaunch testing at Cape Canaveral.